Sigh No More
by TheSongbird341
Summary: Men were deceivers, ever... - Alex and Sara contemplate their relationships with the notorious con, Neal Caffrey, and wonder if the joke has been on them the whole time...


**Sigh No More**

* * *

_Sigh no more, ladies,_  
_Sigh no more._  
_Men were deceivers, ever._

* * *

He'd always been a good liar. It was a job that followed him wherever he went, whether a con with the FBI on his heels or a C.I. working stings undercover. Alex presumed that his talented untruths were the only thing keeping him alive, and to some extent, she was correct. Her miscalculations lay elsewhere, in the thought that after all this time, she was still a better liar than he was. She'd never been so wrong.  
Even after years of spotting his lies and playing him on them, she couldn't realize what was right in front of her face - that what she and Neal once had couldn't be renewed. She knew he'd been playing her for the music box; he wasn't _that _good. She could spot a gleam in his eye when he saw something he wanted, even if he couldn't have it. What she hadn't caught was that his heart was invested in someone else. _Kate._  
She knew Kate was his weakness, but she also knew Neal was smart. She had expected him to wise up and forget about Kate, but, at the same time, he was Neal Caffrey; the boy who wanted the one thing he couldn't have, ever since he was a child. She hadn't realized his heart was before his head nowadays. She guessed that was one of the things she'd missed during the years of exile.

* * *

_One foot in sea, and one on shore_  
_To one thing constant, never._

* * *

Sara knew he was a dangerous man to love. For God's sake, they'd crossed paths over a stolen _Raphael_, which she knew he still possessed! From that moment forward, there wasn't a moment of honesty between the two, and the strange thing was, it was refreshing. Not comforting, knowing that he had a myriad of secrets he wouldn't unleash unless _absolutely _necessary, but it was a rarity to find someone so mysterious and exciting. Sure, there were pros and cons to the con. For one thing, she had to ask if he was working with or against the FBI that day, and if against, she had to pretend she wasn't curious as to just _what _he was doing. The trust issue combined with Sterling Bosch's association with the bureau made for interesting pillow talk.  
But the issues went deeper as, although she knew he cared about her, it became evident that he was just another variation of her sister. God knew where she was now, but she ran away without saying goodbye, just like Neal eventually did. Sara had known, too. She'd learned to spot the look of a runner in a person's eyes, and no matter how she tried to ignore it, to dismiss the evidence piling up and to have faith in him where she couldn't trust him, it was beginning to show in the way he did things every day. That's when she realized; nothing was different. He was always a runner; she was just beginning to see it. Really, she'd just begun to see it. She'd opened up to the fact that he was a liar, and she was too easily fooled to try to love him despite it.

* * *

_Then sigh not so,_  
_But let them go,_  
_And be you blithe and bonny..._

* * *

Neal was exhausting, she'd decided. Alex couldn't decide if he was a con or a man, and she suspected he was having difficulty with the question, himself. After such time of cons and lies, of working together to make the world bow at their feet without knowing they were bowing, of fighting the odds and facing whatever tried to stop them from getting their way; after all they'd been through, he turned around and decided he wanted to be "respectable" and "honest". Where was the man that laughed at the police, that looked at life like a game and at himself like he was winning, when really, they were the people in last place, scraping the bottom of the bowl to try to fool those in first place with what little they had left. The man that made the best out of nothing and ended up with everything – he was gone. And she'd found out just a little too late.  
She knew he was tricky - that was always in the back of her mind, by clouded behind hope of solving his puzzle someday, of seeing him through and meeting him halfway in a team of liars to take the world by storm. Her distrust was muddled in the mess of emotions she stifled at the words he said and things he did. But that could only have been his plan, she supposed. It would have been hers, were the roles switched and the naïvety replaced with strategy.  
So she was conned by the infamous Neal Caffrey. But she had a way of thinking that if he fooled her once, well, shame on her. If he fooled her twice, he was screwed. Yet, he'd fooled her three times; one in meeting her and pulling her in, one in keeping her there for so long, and one for leaving her aghast, lost and confused, to pick up the pieces_._

* * *

_Converting all your sounds of woe_  
_Into, "Hey, nonny, nonny..."_

* * *

And now that he was gone, Sara was at a loss. She should have been relieved, as there was no longer the complications he brought with him and she was free to live her life without wondering if she was about to get kidnapped or interrogated about her shame-to-say boyfriend who'd managed to get himself in sticky business again. She wouldn't have to put up with the whole _one-step-forward, two-steps-backward _issue anymore, and could know that wherever he was, he was living the life he wanted with the girl he wanted and the money he stole. So kudos to him.  
But there she was, thinking about him again. She couldn't stop. Every international crime announced over television made her wonder if it was him, somewhere across the world doing what he did even though she knew he wouldn't be found. He was too good for that.  
Every hat she saw made her wonder if he was under it. Every letter she received gave her hope that enclosed was a secret message from "Nick Halden" or whatever alias he was currently under. Every missed call, every rustle in her bushes, always made her jump up and sprang his name into the tip of her tongue. Neal was in everything; he was everywhere. Yet he was nowhere.  
She didn't understand how he did it. Living with him was hard, as she well knew, so things were supposed to easier. Little did she know that living without him was _impossible_.

* * *

_Sigh no more, ladies._  
_Sigh no more._  
_Men were deceivers, ever._

* * *

_**Thanks for reading! Just some random speculation on the relationships Neal is involved in. Obviously, this was placed after the Season 3 finale, so although outdated, I thought it was nice. Which couple do you prefer: Neal/Sara or Neal/Alex? I can't decide.**_

_**Make sure to leave a review! I love me some reviews :)**_

_*** *-TheSongbird341-* ***_

* * *

_DISCLAIMER: I don't own White Collar, Neal, Sara, or Alex. That would be cool, though._


End file.
